Fast of Christ

I was studying this morning and what I learned really jolted me. I am led to share this with you. If you already knew, may it be a confirmation.

I used to think that Jesus was led into the wilderness to fast. Not anymore!

Matt 4:1-2,Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-2

‘Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward hungry’.

‘And immediately the Spirit driveth Him into the wilderness. And He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan;and was with the wild beasts...’(Mark always summarizes events compared to the other gospels).

‘And being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Being FORTY DAYS TEMPTED of the devil. And in those days He did eat nothing: and when they were ended. He AFTERWARD became hungry’.

The gospel record is clear!

He went to the wilderness, led by the Spirit, to be tested by the devil.

During those 40 days of testing, He was not hungry, for the fullness of the Spirit was His supply. So he did not eat, for the sensation left Him because God sustained Him!

It was as His scheduled 40-day tempting came to an end that He became hungry and satan became all the more desperate because he could find no fault in Him.

So, in a last ditch attempt to cause Him to sin, Satan tried to ‘play Him’ on 3 things:

1. Satan played on His hunger.

2. Satan played on His Right to Rule.

3. Satan played on His Belief in God’s Supremacy.

So what we see recorded is the end of the temptation period of 40 days.

Would that be a reason that a lot of our fasting is ineffectual? Is our focus on God SO MUCH that we DON’T WANT TO EAT? Or is our focus on not wanting to eat that we lose sight of God? Ending up worse than when we started!

Think about that and be blessed today

P.S. Fasting is not about when you are in trouble. It’s about re-directing your focus to God so that Satan ends up in trouble!